Life Bird #709: Long-tailed Duck!
Saturday 21 March 2015
41 °F
After over a month and a half of deprivation from birding, I finally got the chance to go to the Chicago lakefront and see some decent diving ducks, spurred on by the report of a rarity Long-tailed Duck, a species from the Artic, that showed up in Monroe Harbor. After my choir rehearsal, I traipsed through Millenium Park and started walking down the lakefront, combing through little pockets of grebes and ducks, looking for my target bird, which would be a lifer for me if found.
I started out with this male LESSER SCAUP, with his nice iridescent head:
And these classy breeding-plumaged HORNED GREBES:
Here is a nonbreeding-plumage HORNED GREBE I found today for comparison:
Finally, after forty minutes of battling the ferocious lakefront winds, I found my target bird, the LONG-TAILED DUCK! Alas, it had no long tail, but the other field marks were sufficient enough for me to make the positive ID (they loose their long tails in molting periods).
A fantastic day! The full species list is below my signature.
For any locals reading my blog posts, I highly encourage you to attend my FREE Oak Park Bird Walks. Email me if you are interested in a specific date(s).
Wednesday, April 8 @ 7:00am
Sunday, April 12 @ 8:00am
Wednesday, April 29 @ 7:00am
Sunday, May 3 @ 8:00am
Wednesday, May 6 @ 7:00am
Wednesday, May 20 @ 7:00am
Good birding!
Henry
World Life List: 709 Species (1 life bird today: Long-tailed Duck)
27 species today:
Canada Goose 40
Greater Scaup 4
Lesser Scaup 15
Long-tailed Duck 1 Continuing individual. Obtained photos.
Common Goldeneye 2
Common Merganser 18
Horned Grebe 15
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Cooper's Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 2
Killdeer 1
Ring-billed Gull 30
Herring Gull 5
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 11
Mourning Dove 3
Downy Woodpecker 2
Hairy Woodpecker 1
American Crow 2
Black-capped Chickadee 1
American Robin 10
European Starling 5
Northern Cardinal 2
Red-winged Blackbird 1
Common Grackle 15
House Finch 1
American Goldfinch 4
House Sparrow 20
